And to top it all off I hear it's a draft where the end of the first round picks at the top of the second - but the Lightning are without a second round pick this year for whatever reason... So they won't pick again until the end of the third and top of the fourth...

ANyway, yeah we were pretty giddy... Hockey's been a buzz anyway, but the ball bouncing "our way" for once helped tremendously.

The "next one" with the truly "great one" together? Fuggetaboutit!

Now all Pittsburgh needs is for a new Arena... We're not folding anytime soon, especially considering that, the day of the NHL/NHLPA deal, the prices of Pens tickets dropped by about $20-$30

I think you better take alook at the Caps folding. They seem more likely to me at this point.

I hope we get a new areana, not just for the pens, but because our downtown/uptown area NEEDS something new. PNC Park (even with the PIrates blowing goats) did a LOT for the North Shore. A new arena/slots area would do a lot for uptown too. Hard to explain without knowing Pittsburgh's geography, but suffice it to say that it'd make about 100% difference for the entire city.

It's funny. Our old arena was more on the west side of town and when they finally decided to build a new arena (after 30 years of debate and losing the Jets) for our AHL franchise (Moose), there was still a ton of debate. Most commentary was entirely negative - not enough parking, downtown is dangerous, this will put women at risk of rape because of the testosterone fueled males leaving the venue (I kid you not, this was a "legitimate" argument). But in the end it is a pretty positive thing, putting a ton of people downtown in the dead of winter. I won't go so far as to say it revitalized the area, but it certainly injected a lot of life and seems to be a good starting point. Hope you get yours in Pittsburgh.

Besides, I was just funning you. New agreement or not + a team folding does not mean it's coming back here. The arena is suitable, though small (16K), the interest is there and I'd contend the fanbase but we still have one problem. Deep pockets. No one around here is really capable/competent to be an owner. We could do the Edmonton thing with a group of owners but that's unlikely too. No, I don't think we'll be seeing the NHL back here.

It will be interesting to see which buildings are full early in the season. Pittsburgh should be one, Toronto will be another. After that?

And to top it all off I hear it's a draft where the end of the first round picks at the top of the second - but the Lightning are without a second round pick this year for whatever reason... So they won't pick again until the end of the third and top of the fourth...

Blah.

Simple, they had one of the worst chances statistically and they just won the Cup. The Cup winner always gets the last pick so don't be too surprised. You have no 2nd round pick due to the Vaclav Prospal trade.

The downtown area for Pittsburgh isn't in terrible shape, it could just use a new arena on its uptown end... The PNC Park/Heinz Field projects did some good for that part of the city (which is just the opposite side of the river from downtown... Technically they really are all one thing).

They talk about just building the new arena basically beside where the old one is. There's an old hospital and church they would knock down, and where the Igloo is there'd be parking then I guess.

I'd like it to happen myself... It's the oldest arena in the league, and it is showing that age, so it'd be nice. I like new stuff when I drive down tot he city.

We need a nice transit system too though. That'd help Pittsburgh just as much at this point.